The course is taking place in Leimen, Germany, from September 24th-27th 2018.

Currently, there are still spaces available.

It is open to all scientists working in STEM.

EMBO-membership or an EMBO-grant are not required for participation.

For further information as well as registration, feel free to go here.

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/08/03/still-spaces-available-on-embo-lab-management-course-for-pis/feed/0Better be kind…?https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/06/23/better-be-kind/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/06/23/better-be-kind/#respondFri, 22 Jun 2018 22:47:43 +0000http://hfp-consulting.com/?p=977Is there a shift in science culture – and do we even need one?

Nature recently reported on the first „Kindness in Science“ Workshop, which was held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in December 2017. The initiators, the Kindness in Science Committee, are striving for a New Zealand based, yet globally scaling approach towards a kinder, more respectful as well as more inclusive scientific working culture. Overall, they want work in science to become more diverse, more sustainable, and, last but not least, more pleasant.

Tammy Stevens, one of the founders of the committee, explained one of the main goals of “Kindness in Science” as taking advantage of synergies within a collective in order to achieve a better scientific outcome. As an example she described her own research group, within which students and postdocs are working collaboratively for a common purpose while maintaining full responsibility as well as ownership of their respective research results. In case of problems, support is preferred over sheer criticism, constructive or not.

In addition, nature asked several scientists in different states of their scientific career about their personal experiences regarding kindness and respect within the Scientific community.

As a quintessence, several of them confirmed Stevens’ report. They, too, had come to the conclusion that more cooperative, inclusive approaches tended to be the more fruitful ones. On the long run, anyone would benefit from shared information, be it ECR or senior scientist – provided that collaboration was not regarded as a one-way street.

As one of the researches pointed out, even Darwinism has changed its main paradigm from “survival of the fittest” to “survival of the most sympathetic” by now – even though this message apparently has not reached everyone’s desk yet. There is ample evidence that productivity of the individual worker will rise in a kind, compassionate and thoughtful work environment. And there is no reason why what holds true for any other kind of job should be any different in science.

In contrast, the “publish or perish” strategy, forcing scientists to rather publish questionable results than publish no results at all, is distinctly appointed as a source of trouble. Not only with respect to the quality of published results. Scarcity of grants evokes rude behavior among those competing for them. A more polite and decent way of conduct within the scientific community, especially where publishing policies are concerned, might, on the long run, vastly improve the quality of scientific publications.

Others commented on the responsibility principal researchers bear for the general atmosphere and the conduct within their own research group. Or, as Binyam Mogessie from Bristol puts it: “As a principal investigator, you need to acknowledge that you have a responsibility for every person you hire.”

Emily Bernhard from Duke University sums up the main essence of the Kindness in Science Approach in writing:

“There’s this idea that it’s OK to be an awful person as long as you are brilliant. But there are tons of people who are generous with their time or positive energy and who make academia work better.”

Now – what do you think? Are kindness and a decent way of conduct in science worthwhile? – Does it ‘pay off’ to be kind, or is it an invitation for scavengers bent on exploiting a colleague’s work for their own benefit? How much can a single person even contribute when it comes to the general atmosphere of a whole team? In how far is the group leader to be involved in order for any sort of Kindness approach to succeed?

Feel free to post your comments as well as your personal experiences. We’d be very interested to read them.

Kindness in Science was created, when Tammy Steeves and her Co-Founders came upon an essay about the subject by Emily Bernhart. The whole essay can be read here.

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/06/23/better-be-kind/feed/0Nature careers feature: How to (better) lead a labhttps://hfp-consulting.com/2018/06/02/nature-careers-feature-how-to-better-lead-a-lab/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/06/02/nature-careers-feature-how-to-better-lead-a-lab/#respondFri, 01 Jun 2018 22:50:38 +0000http://hfp-consulting.com/?p=961Being promoted to PI very often means that young scientists have to face challenges like lab and staff/student management, budgeting and other administrative tasks for the very first time – or at least, for the very first time entirely on their own. On top of that, not only are they responsible for advancing their own career, but that of their respective teams as well. More often than not, they are rather unprepared for this. And still too often, things do not change for the better when junior PIs become senior PIs.

In its recent careers feature, Nature asked several leadership experts, including Sue Hewitt, for options that may help scientists to become better team leaders. Sue worked as a postdoc in academic research and then in science publishing before moving into a career in leadership development. She has been working with hfp consulting for several years, including delivering workshops for female leaders in science.

Nature’s main question was whether there were any aspects from outside of science that may help scienctists to improve their leadership skills. The answers were as multifaceted as were the backgrounds of the respective experts.

Peter Hirst, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, M.A., recommended treating any research project more similar to a business in keeping track of resources and monitoring its impact. In his approach, managing tools developed for the purposes of the industry are applied in order to optimize the output of research projects.

Sen Sendjaya from the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, on the other hand, teaches an approach called servant leadership. His focus is on the optimal development of the followers of the team leader, putting their needs above those of the leader. This approach is supposed to work particularly well in science, as scientists tend to be creative, autonomously working and thinking people with whom the classical hierarchic approach might not work very well.

Sue Hewitt explained that actually, scientists in leading position need leadership training like any other profession might. In contrast to many corporate employees or civil servants, however, they still very rarely receive this. She also emphasized the importance of female-only leadership training for female scientists, as some female-specific problems concerning work in science can be addressed much more effectively in an all-female environment.

Ken Ingram, head of practice at Roffey Park Institute, a leadership-development organization in Horsham, UK, pointed out that especially people achieving a leadership position due to their superior expert knowledge tend to feel insecure with the “ambiguous nature of managing people”, and need help in accepting these key aspects of their new job.

Kate MacMaster, Programmes Director at the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust in Canberra, Australia, emphasized the importance of self-awareness for team leaders, which may help them in learning more about their basic personality traits and their predominant leadership style. She also emphasizes the importance of defining a research team’s shared purpose and values and bringing these to the awareness of all team members.

In conclusion, there are many different ways by which a PI might improve leadership-related skills and become a better team leader, and scientists should check out their university for respective programs or ask for fundings for applying to external workshops. The complete article, including links to several leadership programs exclusively tailored to the need of scientists (hfp consulting included), can be found under nature.com

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/06/02/nature-careers-feature-how-to-better-lead-a-lab/feed/0Interview with Sašo Kočevar at Naturejobs (podcast)https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/04/12/interview-with-saso-kocevar-at-naturejobs-podcast/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/04/12/interview-with-saso-kocevar-at-naturejobs-podcast/#respondThu, 12 Apr 2018 09:52:51 +0000http://hfp-consulting.com/?p=849The December issue of the monthly Naturejobs podcast was dedicated to the impact of high quality mentoring in research. Sašo Kočevar, director of hfp consulting, was requested to give a brief survey of the basics of leadership in science in the first of the feature’s interviews.

Mentoring has long since been a major issue to Nature. In 2005, Nature launched its annual awards for outstanding scientific mentorship in order to highlight the essential, but nonetheless rarely rewarded impact of outstanding mentoring on young researchers. The awards focus on a different country or region each year, with Spain being the candidate in 2017. To complement these efforts, a separate collection of mentoring resources was launched during the nomination phase for the 2017 awards. Mentoring is also an issue covered by the Naturejobs blog on a regular basis.

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2018/04/12/interview-with-saso-kocevar-at-naturejobs-podcast/feed/0The value of stupidity in scientific research – Science implies confronting us with our “absolute” stupidity.https://hfp-consulting.com/2017/04/05/value-of-stupidity-in-scientific-research/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2017/04/05/value-of-stupidity-in-scientific-research/#respondWed, 05 Apr 2017 18:33:58 +0000http://hfp-consulting.com/?p=625The idea has been around for a while, which does not make it less gripping, quite the opposite, it is worthwhile to occasionally revisit it, if only for the sake of positive stimulus.

The first one to formulate it within the scientific field, though, is Martin Schwarz, a professor of microbiology and biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia, who published an article [1] about the role of stupidity in scientific research, in the Journal of Cell Science in 2008.

Schwarz suggests that not only is it okay to feel stupid as a researcher, but that it is, indeed, necessary, because If you only address questions whose answers are already known, that might make you feel smart, but you won’t be contributing to significant breakthroughs.

Now, How does a researcher decide to write about the importance of stupidity in scientific research?

Schwarz got the inspiration after coming across an old friend he had not met for many years.

“We had been Ph.D. students at the same time, both studying science, although in different areas. She later dropped out of graduate school, went to Harvard Law School and is now a senior lawyer for a major environmental organization. At some point, the conversation turned to why she had left graduate school. To my utter astonishment, she said it was because it made her feel stupid. After a couple of years of feeling stupid every day, she was ready to do something else.”

And then he adds,

“I had thought of her as one of the brightest people I knew and her subsequent career supports that view. What she said bothered me. I kept thinking about it; sometime the next day, it hit me. Science makes me feel stupid too. It’s just that I’ve gotten used to it. So used to it, in fact, that I actively seek out new opportunities to feel stupid. I wouldn’t know what to do without that feeling. I even think it’s supposed to be this way.”

So, Is Schwarz saying that feeling stupid is a prerequisite to conducting successful research?

He explains:

“Productive stupidity means being ignorant by choice. Focusing on important questions puts us in the awkward position of being ignorant. One of the beautiful things about science is that it allows us to bumble along, getting it wrong time after time, and feel perfectly fine as long as we learn something each time. No doubt, this can be difficult for students who are accustomed to getting the answers right. No doubt, reasonable levels of confidence and emotional resilience help, but I think scientific education might do more to ease what is a very big transition: from learning what other people once discovered to making your own discoveries. The more comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will wade into the unknown and the more likely we are to make big discoveries”

FINAL STAGE

Feeling stupid isn’t directly related to Being stupid, in this case.

The idea can be extrapolated to any other field, without distorting the basic concept.

It portrays a very commonly present feeling in scientific labs, if you ever felt like this, you are not the only one.

The only stupid question is the one not asked.

It is more difficult and worthy to ask good questions than to give good answers.

As Albert Einstein brightly puts it:

“The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science”.

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2017/04/05/value-of-stupidity-in-scientific-research/feed/0Advanced Courses on Leadership and Management Skills are available!https://hfp-consulting.com/2015/02/26/advanced-course-on-leadership-and-management-skills-in-potsdam-in-june/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2015/02/26/advanced-course-on-leadership-and-management-skills-in-potsdam-in-june/#respondThu, 26 Feb 2015 08:50:43 +0000http://dev.hfp-consulting.com/?p=144We often get very good feedback for our courses. And sometimes, course participants contact us after some time and ask for a follow-up course to refresh relevant skills and broaden the set of essential tools and techniques to lead and manage.

Well, we heard you! Exclusively to our hfp consulting course alumni and for a limited number of participants, we are offering an advanced course on leadership and management skills. Please use the contact form on our website to sign up.

This course is a unique chance to:

Refresh essential leadership and management tools

Acquire new techniques to make you a better leader

Balance your roles and develop a vision for your professional future

Network with likeminded professionals and create a powerful peer group

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2015/02/26/advanced-course-on-leadership-and-management-skills-in-potsdam-in-june/feed/0Skill or luck? Can an academic career be planned?https://hfp-consulting.com/2014/11/11/skill-or-luck-can-an-academic-career-be-planned/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2014/11/11/skill-or-luck-can-an-academic-career-be-planned/#respondTue, 11 Nov 2014 08:46:50 +0000http://dev.hfp-consulting.com/?p=140Over the past years, quite a few blogs with a focus on careers of academics in the life science sector have sprung up. They are mostly written by junior faculty and postdocs and often share very personal stories on the author’s career trajectories, or they provide general advice, for example on grant writing and job interviews both inside and outside of academia.

The reading list gets longer with books on academic careers, such as the recently published The Promotion Game, written by Pascale Lane, who coincidentally also runs a blog on Scientopia and many more, just do a search on amazon for “career in academia”.

Reading up on many of these publications, the question I have been asking myself recently is, just to what degree can an academic career actually be planned and influenced? Sure, scientific excellence plays an important role, so does active networking, the ability to write grants and publications well, as well as the flexibility to move wherever a suitable position is on offer.

But aren’t there just as many deciding factors which are out of the hands of the candidate? Isn’t it to a good deal luck when getting the crucial manuscript published in a high impact journal (and impact factor does still matter)? How can one know in advance if your supervisor in fact is a supportive mentor? Being in the right research field, at the right place, at the right time to be a competitive candidate for these scarce, fitting open position also seems utterly unpredictable.

So, if you were asked which parameter was the deciding factor in your career trajectory, what would be your answer? What is more important, skill or luck?

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2014/11/11/skill-or-luck-can-an-academic-career-be-planned/feed/0Registration to EMBO laboratory management courses now openhttps://hfp-consulting.com/2014/10/17/registration-to-embo-laboratory-management-courses-now-open/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2014/10/17/registration-to-embo-laboratory-management-courses-now-open/#respondFri, 17 Oct 2014 07:33:25 +0000http://dev.hfp-consulting.com/?p=138Just a quick note to let you know that registration to the EMBO Laboratory Management Courses for 2015 is now open. These courses are under very high demand and usually fill up fairly quick. Please head over to the EMBO site to register and book your place on one of the courses offered by hfp consulting.

We have been supplying Laboratory Management Courses for EMBO for ten years now. With our expanding team of trainers, most of which have a strong scientific background, we think that we manage to tailor our courses yet more specifically to the topics and challenges postdocs and young PIs are facing.

Topics we cover in these courses include leadership and communication skills, time and project management, as well as recruitment and delegation. We work with many practical examples and relevant, hands-on exercises. Head over to the EMBO site to secure your spot while they last.

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2014/10/17/registration-to-embo-laboratory-management-courses-now-open/feed/0How we help the scientific community with leadership and management skills courseshttps://hfp-consulting.com/2014/05/12/how-we-help-the-scientific-community-with-leadership-and-management-skills-courses/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2014/05/12/how-we-help-the-scientific-community-with-leadership-and-management-skills-courses/#respondMon, 12 May 2014 07:31:11 +0000http://dev.hfp-consulting.com/?p=135In a series of recent Career Advice articles (1, 2) in Science, Lucas Laursen gave an overview of opportunities for scientist to acquire leadership and management skills, which we believe are essential for today’s challenges in an academic environment. The articles give a good overview and mention a number of important leadership and management tasks scientists face and which we address in our courses. Improving time management, setting priorities, delegating, dealing with conflicts, motivating coworkers and recruiting the right staff at the right time are a few examples.

Even though our courses are predominantly targeted to post-doctoral researchers and group leaders, we also offer workshops for PhD students at early career stages. Furthermore, we offer specific workshops for administrative and technical staff with leadership responsibilities in a scientific environment and for core facility managers. Obviously, junior scientists face different challenges than more senior academics, and those deal with other issues than administrators. Thus, our workshops are individually tailored to the corresponding target audience we are catering. For example, for core facility managers, budgeting and financial planning plays a more important role than for post doctoral scientists.

We are able to adequately respond to specific requirements of our clients, because we have a large team of trainers with diverse backgrounds, most of them with many years of experience as scientists themselves. Therefore, we understand and can directly relate to actual problems and challenges our clients are facing. No matter what professional roles and positions our course participants have, all our workshops have a common goal: to enable our participants to productively deal with diverse professional challenges by providing a set of tried and tested tools, directly applicable to their every day work. We have been doing this successfully for ten years now.

]]>https://hfp-consulting.com/2014/05/12/how-we-help-the-scientific-community-with-leadership-and-management-skills-courses/feed/0Laboratory Management Courses at EMBO 2014https://hfp-consulting.com/2013/11/27/laboratory-management-courses-at-embo-2014/
https://hfp-consulting.com/2013/11/27/laboratory-management-courses-at-embo-2014/#respondWed, 27 Nov 2013 08:25:39 +0000http://dev.hfp-consulting.com/?p=133Just a very brief note: We are again offering EMBO laboratory management and leadership courses for postdocs and group leaders in 2014. These courses are organized by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). They are very popular and only very few free spots are still avalable. Please have a look here for dates and details. The courses will be in Heidelberg, Germany.
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